These two novellas were so much fun to write–and I promise they’ll be even more fun to read because you won’t have to rewrite any sections. (That makes a huge difference in your enjoyment level.) And now, because I need Amazon reviews, the book is on sale and I’ll be giving away one 25.00 gift card to a reviewer on about June 29th. To be eligible, just review the book and then send me a link to your review at jrallisonfans @ yahoo.com. Random.org will choose the winner. Your review doesn’t have to be long or a five star–and as always with any of my ebooks, if you see a typo/grammar mistake feel free to tell me what and where they are. (I have about eight people proofread my books and things still slip by.)

Lacey has dreamed of opening a restaurant for years – but first, she needs a loan. When Garrett Halifax, her roommate’s Harvard-educated brother, offers to help her clean up her appearance and manner to impress the bank manager, she jumps at the chance. She makes mistake after mistake, and perhaps the biggest mistake is falling for sexy Garret.

This modern retelling of My Fair Lady offers all the humor of the original movie with a splash of romance thrown in.

Jojo Halifax, Lacey’s roommate, believes that winning Echo Ridge’s float competition is just what her fledgling art career needs. And if that means giving her ex-boyfriend, Anthony, a second chance so she can be a designer on his team, well, she’s willing to make the sacrifice. But when a lost bet leads to a blind date with her brother’s friend, Wyatt, she begins to have second thoughts about second chances. Wyatt is handsome and charming and just might have been paid to make her forget about Anthony. Is falling for his charm worth the risk or should she take Anthony back again?

Excerpt:

Jojo and Wyatt were nearing their floor. “Anyway, whatever price Garrett paid for your services, it was worth it.”

Wyatt smiled. “Glad to know you’re satisfied.”

His answer shouldn’t have bothered Jojo, but it did. She’d made the comment tongue-in-cheek and had expected him to deny that Garrett was paying him anything. Instead, he’d confirmed it. What was Garrett paying him with? A favor called in? Cash? She hoped it wasn’t that. How much did make-my-sister-forget-her-boyfriend dates run? Hundreds? The more Garrett paid, the more pathetic it meant she was.

The elevator slowed to a stop and the door opened. Wyatt stepped into the hallway and paused, checking the numbers on the wall to see which way to go. Jojo followed him, rolling her overnight bag behind her.

“This way,” he said, heading to the left. His room was 2312; hers was 2310.

He gestured to the rooms on his right, completely unperturbed by her questioning. “Here are our rooms.”

“You’re not going to answer me?”

He paused in the hallway, seemed surprised by her insistence. “What are you really asking? Do you want me to tell you that you’re pretty enough and interesting enough to get a date without your brother’s help? You absolutely are. But I suspect you already know that. Girls who are as pretty as you are quite aware of it.”

The compliment washed over her, made her tingle. She was pretty and interesting. “Ah, thanks. You’re so sweet.” And then the next moment her doubts returned. “Wait, is my brother paying you to say things like that to me?”

Wyatt laughed, then unlocked his door. “I’ll be ready to go in five minutes. See you then.” He winked and disappeared inside, shutting the door.

That wink. Jojo would look stupid if she tried it, but Wyatt made the gesture flirtatious and intimate, like she’d gained entrance to his inner circle. A place she suddenly wanted to be.

As she walked into her room, she made a new goal for the evening. She would not do impulsive, foolish things, like throw herself at Wyatt in an attempt to get over Anthony. She would not flirt with him and try to get him to kiss her. Nothing good could come of that. Except, of course, the kissing part. With a guy like Wyatt, that was bound to be good.

I had planned to finish Slayers before I did anything else. The story is so close to being done. Well, at least the rough draft is close. The finished, polished story is far from being done since revisions take months. But my agent called me the end of March and told me he wanted me to turn three of my books into screenplays.

The first problem with this instruction was that I don’t know how to write screenplays. It’s sort of like telling a comic creator to do a watercolor. Some of the principles are the same but it’s completely different medium. So I’ve been reading screenplay writing books and working on Just One Wish, and All is Fair in Love, War, and High School. When I’m done with those, my agent wants me to turn My Fair Godmother into both a screenplay and a pilot for a series. In case you’re wondering, writing series pilots is different then screenplays so I’ll have to learn another new skill.

In some ways it’s been good for me to work on something so different because it reminds me that learning is a process and I should have more understanding and patience for people who haven’t learned the craft of writing yet. Just because you tell people a rule and even give examples doesn’t mean they’ll know how to implement it. I’ve been told in screenwriting books to avoid overwriting, and I’m still not sure what that looks like.

It takes a lot of hours to learn a craft and I’m just at the beginning of that journey.

Part of me wants to stop with the screenplays after I finish All’s Fair and get the fifth Slayers done. Another part of me realizes that I have an agent for a reason, and I’m supposed to listen to his advice. Strike while the iron is hot, and all that. I might be able to make a decent wage as a screenwriter whereas I know I won’t make that working on the last Slayers book. Harsh truth, I know. But these last books have been a labor of love and not profit.

I also have been working on my novella: Covertly Yours, which is in the With a Kiss anthology. I and some amazing authors put this anthology together as a fundraiser for Rob Wells. It will only be available for six months so grab your copy now. (Amazon says it’s 666 pages. Apparently one of us should have written one more or one less page.)

I’ve been at Storymakers and Phoenix Comic Fest where I filmed a whole bunch of episodes of So You Think You Can Write with amazing guest judges. Standby for episodes with Shannon Hale, Melanie Jacobson, Sarah Eden, Donna Hatch, Lisa Mangum, Ben Grange, Brandon Mull, James Owen, and Brandi Stewart (From Changing Hands). I’m probably forgetting someone. But trust me they were all awesome.

Those episodes will be coming out in the next month months.

And that’s what I’ve been doing and why I’m behind on everything, or at least behind on Slayers, which feels like everything.

I grew up watching My Fair Lady. Loved it. Still do. In fact, I can sing along with several of the songs. (My personal tradition is to sing the I’m Getting Married in the Morning song to anyone the night before their wedding.)

There was only one thing wrong with the movie: not a good romance.

So it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that I wrote a modern-day version with a hot guy. If you like My Fair Lady, you need this book for your collection.

After I wrote the story for the 3rd Echo Ridge Anthology, I knew I needed to write a story about Jojo, Lacey’s roommate too. That novella appeared in the 4th anthology.

Now you can have the two books together. I think they’re a perfect fit, if I do so say so myself… Here are their descriptions:

Lacey has dreamed of opening a restaurant for years – but first, she needs a loan. When Garrett Halifax, her roommate’s Harvard-educated brother, offers to help her clean up her appearance and manner to impress the bank manager, she jumps at the chance. She makes mistake after mistake, and perhaps the biggest mistake is falling for sexy Garret.

This modern retelling of My Fair Lady offers all the humor of the original movie with a splash of romance thrown in.

Jojo Halifax, Lacey’s roommate, believes that winning Echo Ridge’s float competition is just what her fledgling art career needs. And if that means giving her ex-boyfriend, Anthony, a second chance so she can be a designer on his team, well, she’s willing to make the sacrifice. But when a lost bet leads to a blind date with her brother’s friend, Wyatt, she begins to have second thoughts about second chances. Wyatt is handsome and charming and just might have been paid to make her forget about Anthony. Is falling for his charm worth the risk or should she take Anthony back again?

I’m busy at Storymakers Conference right now, which is why this post is late. But basically if you posted, I’m giving you an audio book code. Some of you have already been mailed codes and the rest of you will have to wait until Sunday after I get a good night’s sleep.

The long-awaited (at least long awaited by me) audiobook of Echo in Time is now available! And that means I have some Audible codes to give away to reviewers. I’ll be giving away 15 to commenters on this blog. (Yep, just comment. If there are more than 15 comments, I’ll use Random.org to choose the winners.)

Don’t have an Audible account? That could work out even better for you because when you sign up you get a free book so you can just choose Echo in Time (Or you can get Erasing Time if you haven’t read the first one. The book contains spoilers.)

Did I mention it has an adorable British narrator? I swear, I love listening to accents so much that I want to just write books that take place across the pond.

Here’s the blurb and then I’ll give you directions to sign up if you don’t have an account.

Echo in Time delivers on “the possibility of an equally thrilling sequel” (Kirkus Reviews) to Erasing Time.

After being pulled 400 years into the future, twins Taylor and Sheridan have found some refuge from the government of Traventon, which used the dangerous Time Strainer to yank the girls from the past. Yet the threat of the dangerous technology still looms. Taylor and an ally, Joseph, are selected to go on a mission to destroy the time machine and weapon. But their actions before they do may have major consequences for the future and the past.

Action-packed and romantic, this futuristic sequel to Erasing Time is perfect for fans of dystopian and sci-fi novels such as The Maze Runner by James Dashner, Across the Universe by Beth Revis, and Matched by Ally Condie.

If you posted a comment on the last blog, you won the audiobook. Easiest contest ever. I emailed you and asked you to email me in return so I know the email that wordpress gave me was legit. If you commented and didn’t get an email from me, email me so I knowl.

Audible just gave me some review codes and I’ll be giving away ten of them on my blog to people who 1) have an audible account and 2) want to leave a review. (Doesn’t have to be long or glowing, just any review.)

Leave a comment and if I have more than 10 people comment, I’ll let Random.org choose the winners. (Either leave me your email so I can contact you and tell you that you won, or check back on the blog a week from now when I announce winners.)

Don’t have an audible account? Then you can get the book for free when you sign up. (And you can quit anytime, although if you’re like me you’ll like audiobooks too much to quit.)

The best day of his life, the worst day of hers.
Back in college, Marco Dawson never thought of Belle as anything more than a friend. If she had crossed his mind on his wedding day, it was probably only to wonder why she hadn’t shown up to be a bridesmaid. After all, his new wife was her old roommate. Seven years have passed since then, and Belle just found out that Marco is divorced and vacationing with his family in an elegant Cancun resort. She’s not about to let the right man get away twice. She heads to the resort where she plans to casually bump into Marco and ignite some romantic flames.

But Belle hadn’t planned on one thing: Flynn Dawson, Marco’s handsome, charming, and determined twin brother. He thinks Marco and his ex-wife can make amends and he’s not about to let Belle stand in the way.

Part Sabrina, part While You Were Sleeping, romantic comedy readers will eat this book up!